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THE MINISTRY OF
FINANCE -
THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS
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SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
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No:
06/1999/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ
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Hanoi, January
15, 1999
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JOINT CIRCULAR
GUIDING THE DEBT SETTLEMENT,
COLLECTION OF ARREARS OF EXPORT TAX, IMPORT TAX AND SPECIAL CONSUMPTION TAX ON
IMPORT GOODS AND OF FINES ON LATE PAYMENT THEREOF
Following the Prime Ministers direction in
official dispatches No.1150/CP-KTTH of September 28, 1998 and No. 6430/KTTH of
February 15, 1997 of the Government on the collection of import and export tax
arrears and settlement of import and export tax debts; the Ministry of Finance
and the General Department of Customs hereby jointly provide the following
guidance:
I. COLLECTION OF IMPORT AND EXPORT TAX
ARREARS:
Tax arrears and/or fines which must be collected
after having been found out in import-export declarations already registered
with the customs agencies before October 15, 1998 shall be dealt with as
follows:
1. For cases of violations by enterprises (even
where the customs agencies have inspected import-export goods, calculated and
collected taxes; and the enterprises have sold out goods and made final
settlement of profits and losses...), the customs agencies of the localities
where the enterprises fill import-export procedures shall have to fully collect
tax arrears and fines according to the current provisions of law. Acts of
violations include:
- Falsely declaring the import and/or export tax
calculation prices.
- Falsely declaring the names of actually
imported or exported goods.
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- Failing to fully supply dossiers related to
import-export goods lots which shall serve as basis for the customs agencies to
inspect the goods or calculate taxes;
- Other violations by enterprises, that lead to
the collection of tax arrears.
2. For cases of violations due to objective
causes, not at the enterprises faults, such as the ambiguity and inadequacy of
regulations; the absence of guiding documents or due to the faults of customs
officers/personnel..., they shall be handled as follows:
- The General Department of Customs shall direct
the provincial/municipal Customs Departments to inspect case by case, clearly
justifying the reasons for retrospective collection and make a sum-up report on
all relevant dossiers then submit it to the General Department of Customs.
- Basing itself on the inspection results and
reports of the provincial/municipal Customs Departments, the General Department
of Customs shall make a sum-up report and send it to the Ministry of Finance,
requesting the latter to consider and handle case by case.
Customs officers and personnel who commit acts
of violation thus causing losses to the State budget shall, depending on the
seriousness of their violations, be sanctioned according to the provisions of
law.
II. SETTLEMENT OF IMPORT-EXPORT TAX DEBTS:
Import-export tax debts reflected on the
registration declaration forms and customs tax notices before October 15, 1998
shall be handled as follows:
1. For operating enterprises which still owe
import-export tax debt, the customs agencies of the localities where the
debtors-enterprises are located shall request them to come and fill procedures
for comparison and certification of their import-export tax debt amounts (as
for dissolved or merged enterprises and/or split enterprises, the agencies
accepting the merged enterprises or the immediate higher-level agencies of the
split enterprises shall have to fill procedures for the comparison and
certification of the payable import-export tax amounts with the customs
agencies. For cases where an enterprise is split into a number of new ones, the
document of comparison must state clearly the names of the after-split
enterprises, which shall have to pay the old debts and the concrete payable
amounts, according to each specific import-export declaration of each
enterprise. Basing themselves on the documents of comparison and debt certification,
the customs agencies shall urge the concerned enterprises to pay tax debts to
the State budget as prescribed.
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All cases of failing to pay taxes according to
the regulations shall be subject to coercive measures as currently prescribed
by law.
2. For the already dissolved or bankrupt
enterprises which have stopped their operations, their superior agencies and/or
the agencies issuing decisions on the dissolution of such enterprises shall
direct the liquidation boards for the dissolution of enterprises or the
property liquidation groups (for the bankrupt enterprises) to settle the
dissolved or bankrupt enterprises debts in strict compliance with the order of
priority stipulated in Article 39 of the Law on Bankruptcy of Enterprises dated
December 30, 1993 and Point 6, Item III, Circular No. 25-TC/TCDN of May 15,
1997 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the order, procedures and principles
for financial settlement when State enterprises are dissolved.
If the value of the remaining properties of
enterprises is not enough for the payment of import-export tax debts, the
provincial/municipal Customs Departments shall coordinate with the liquidation
boards for the dissolution of enterprises and the Departments for the
Management of the States Capital and Property at Enterprises in conducting
inspection and sending reports thereon (attached with dossiers) to the General
Department of Customs before March 31, 1999 so that the latter may propose the
Ministry of Finance to further report to the Prime Minister.
For operating enterprises which owe
irrecoverable import-export tax debts due to force majeure causes, the
provincial Peoples Committees (for locally-run enterprises) or the parent
ministries (for centrally-run enterprises) shall inspect case by case and send
reports thereon (enclosed with dossiers) to the General Department of Customs
before March 31, 1999 so that the latter may propose the Ministry of Finance to
further report to the Prime Minister.
3. Enterprises owing debts related to taxes on
the lots of goods consigned for import and/or export by other enterprises shall
be dealt with as follows:
3.1. Where an enterprise owes debts related to
taxes on the lots of import or export goods consigned by another enterprise,
the customs agency at the locality where the debtor- enterprise is situated
shall fill procedures for the transfer of the tax-related debts to the
enterprise that has consigned goods for import and/or export so as to monitor
and urge the collection of outstanding debt, provided that theres a written
certification of tax debts between the two enterprises according to each
specific declaration of consigned import-export goods and the enterprise with
goods consigned for import and/or export must be the one permitted to engage in
direct import and/or export activities.
The enterprise having goods consigned for import
and/or export shall also have to pay taxes and be subject to coercive measures
if committing violation(s), as stipulated in Item 1, Part II of this Circular.
3.2. In cases where an enterprise is owing debts
related to taxes on the lots of goods consigned by another enterprise for
import and/or export, but the consigning enterprise has been dissolved or
bankrupt and the value of its remaining properties cannot cover the tax debt
payment for the lots of consigned import-export goods, the settlement shall
comply with the provisions of Item 2, Part II of this Circular.
4. For debts related to taxes on the lots of
goods temporarily imported for re-export; the import of raw materials and
materials for the production of export goods, which have actually been exported
after the prescribed tax payment time-limit, the customs agencies shall write
off the tax debts corresponding to the amount of goods already exported. The
procedures for consideration of debt clearance shall comply with the procedures
on the non-collection of taxes on goods temporarily imported for re-export,
goods imported for the production of export commodities which have actually
been re-exported within the import tax- payment time-limit.
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By the end of October 15, 1998, if enterprises
have fully paid tax arrears for each import-export declaration, such
enterprises shall not have to pay fines on the late payment of taxes,
corresponding to the tax amount already paid for each specific import-export
declaration.
The General Department of Customs shall guide
and direct the provincial/municipal Customs Departments to fill procedures for
the above-said fine exemption, make a sum-up report thereon and submit it to
the General Department of Customs and the Ministry of Finance.
IV. OTHER PROVISIONS:
1. The provincial/municipal Customs Departments
shall still proceed with customs procedures for enterprises which are subject
to coercive measures in the following cases:
- The enterprises export goods to foreign
countries.
- The enterprises import raw materials and/or
materials for the production of export goods or goods processing under
contracts signed with foreign parties (except for cases where they have
exported all contracted products or the contract-liquidation duration has
expired and where despite the customs agencies request, the concerned
enterprises still fail to fill the tax settlement procedures); and the
enterprises trading in goods temporarily imported for re-export; or transport
across borders.
- The enterprises owing tax debts (including the
to be- collected tax arrears) have registered the plan on the full payment of
tax debts (before December 12, 1998. For enterprises with the tax debt amount
reaching more than 2 billion VN dong, the maximum time-limit must not go beyond
June 30, 1999) on the monthly basis with the customs agencies of the localities
where the debtors- enterprises are situated and strictly abide by the already
registered debt payment plan.
2. In the course of collecting import-export tax
arrears and settlement of import-export tax debts, if any enterprise is
detected as having deliberately delayed the tax payment or committed acts of
obstructing forces on duty for the purpose of appropriating tax money of the
State budget, the provincial/municipal Customs Departments shall compile
dossiers, make reports and send them to the General Department of Customs so
that the latter may further report to the Prime Minister. Depending on the
seriousness of violations of the concerned enterprises, the General Department
of Customs shall propose that such enterprises be subject to administrative
sanctions or examination for penal liability.
3. The debt settlement, the collection of
arrears of the special consumption tax on import goods as well as the fine on
the late payment thereof shall also comply with the provisions of this
Circular.
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The General Department of Customs shall direct
the provincial/municipal Customs Departments to uniformly implement the
provisions in this Circular.
In the course of implementation, if any problems
arises, the concerned units should quickly report them to the Ministry of
Finance and the General Department of Customs for study and timely handling.
THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
VICE MINISTER
Pham Van Trong
THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT
OF CUSTOMS
DEPUTY GENERAL DIRECTOR
Nguyen Van Cam